Q&A Meta Knight: Questions & Answers Thread (Don't make or reply to new threads just asking questions)

[iVoltage]

Its main uses are covering ledge options (and conditioning them to wait on the ledge > ledge trump), catching spotdodges and airdodges, and pressuring shields in conjunction with Dairs or Uairs.

That clears up alot, I'll be sure to try those out as i normally either nair, or up b when trying to catch an airdodge.

 

[Kaffei]

That clears up alot, I'll be sure to try those out as i normally either nair, or up b when trying to catch an airdodge.

Another but a little more risky use for it is it can actually go through a lot of projectiles. It goes through most of Megaman's stuff, fireballs, turnips, zss gun, boomerangs, arrows, hadoukens, thunderjolts etc. If you read when they throw it you can just go through it and get some nice %

just my 2cent

 

[Drippy]

Is it possible to SDI out of Back Air? Did a ledge trump -> Bair and while it connected, the opponent escaped the finisher.

 

[Otterz]

Randomly played Meta Knight last night and now I can't stop. I'm just wondering, is there any way to cancel his Jab or is one button press a guaranteed full Jab?

 

[Jamurai]

You can edge-cancel it if you're hitting somebody with your back to a ledge or platform, so you're pushed back off the ledge and can follow up with double jump Dair or Up-B or something if you're quick. Other than that you can't cancel it, just extend it.

 

[Meatbag]

Does anyone else think that a foxtrot f-smash is a good idea? Tried it a few times against a player who like to tomohawk it looked pretty effective.

 

[ligersandtigons]

What's the best control scheme for mk?

And does mk require claw?

 

[Kaffei]

What's the best control scheme for mk?

And does mk require claw?

Control scheme is preference

MK doesn't require claw, but it makes uair strings a LOT easier

 

[Clockzarb]

Hello fellow MKs !

I have a few questions.

Any advises on how to get trump -> Bair ? Is it confirmed ? I cannot manage to trump Bair people with any character. My guess is that I try to react to it and that would be why I would be too slow. However I have no wii u available right now so I can't test it. It would add a lot to my gameplay since I use a lot nado to cover ledge get up options which condition them to wait on ledge. Any advise is welcome.

Also, my main problem with my is neutral. I'm okay at comboing and edgeguarding and even avoiding enemy's combos but I have actually no clue what to do in neutral. I'm way too aggressive which makes me really predictible, because we have only too good aggressive options (DA and dash grab, or am I mistaken ?) and even though it's fast and catches less experienced players, better players that have good fundamentals keeps destroying me in neutral.

So how to play defensively ? Quite a huge question I know but I'm sure you guys have some advises to force me to play more defensively and learn.

But also, even though I need to adjust my playstyle, how to be correctly aggressive with ? I'm an agressive player that likes risky plays and would like to be able to play aggressively, as much as it is possible to do with such a defensive character.

And thanks for everything you do, the knowledge and wisdom you share, I've been here watching for a while now even though this message is actually one of my first. You are awesome.

 

[Drippy]

are dthrow -> neutral b or dthrow 0-to-death (ik it is character dependent) things I can react to in terms of di or do I have to read their di

Also only use of dthrow fair is when you grab them on the ledge right

 

[warionumbah2]

are dthrow -> neutral b or dthrow 0-to-death (ik it is character dependent) things I can react to in terms of di or do I have to read their di

Also only use of dthrow fair is when you grab them on the ledge right

Down throw to Tornado is guaranteed at low percents on certain characters that have large hurtboxes such as DK,Bowser,Rosalina and D3. When you say Down throw to 0-death, do you mean Down throw to RAR FF Bair? If so then yes you need to read the DI, your opponent should be holding away as any other DI method will result in RAR Bair being true.

Hello fellow MKs !

I have a few questions.

Any advises on how to get trump -> Bair ? Is it confirmed ? I cannot manage to trump Bair people with any character. My guess is that I try to react to it and that would be why I would be too slow. However I have no wii u available right now so I can't test it. It would add a lot to my gameplay since I use a lot nado to cover ledge get up options which condition them to wait on ledge. Any advise is welcome.

There should be a guide on how to instantly ledge trump, you're most likely not doing the inputs fast enough. Just practice doing this when you get a Wii U.

Also, my main problem with my is neutral. I'm okay at comboing and edgeguarding and even avoiding enemy's combos but I have actually no clue what to do in neutral. I'm way too aggressive which makes me really predictible, because we have only too good aggressive options (DA and dash grab, or am I mistaken ?) and even though it's fast and catches less experienced players, better players that have good fundamentals keeps destroying me in neutral.

So how to play defensively ? Quite a huge question I know but I'm sure you guys have some advises to force me to play more defensively and learn.

MK is not a rush down character he's a bait and punish character. In other words, he relies heavily on whiff punishing. How MK plays neutral is dependent on the MU. This question is really difficult to answer because MUs force every character to do different things, i recommend watching top level MKs such as Leo and Tyrant and ask yourself why they do the things they do in neutral(which isn't aggressive). This is more to do with your fundamentals which is something you as a player should work on via experience. Just understand that MK isn't an aggressive/rush down character.

Does anyone else think that a foxtrot f-smash is a good idea? Tried it a few times against a player who like to tomohawk it looked pretty effective.

Yes its useful its been used at top level play alot. In general people shield eveyrtime MK even moves, they'll shield then drop shield quickly especially at high percents. Foxtrot to F-Smash is good for punishing the shield drop and now after the shield changes, you have a somewhat guaranteed Dtilt right after. This will kill fraudulent percents since everyone and their mothers DI away from MK when he dashes at them, its hilarious.

 

[iVoltage]

Is fast fall Nair a good option in situations were you are above them? I tend to use it when I'm jumping trying to get an opening without really thinking. Are there any follow ups?

 

[Meatbag]

You can follow up with a da with a ff nair at some percents. I'd use it if they throw out something , but if they don't just d-cape away. Also, you have multiple jumps, so maybe you can bait something out and then punish them.

 

[Drippy]

Down throw to Tornado is guaranteed at low percents on certain characters that have large hurtboxes such as DK,Bowser,Rosalina and D3. When you say Down throw to 0-death, do you mean Down throw to RAR FF Bair? If so then yes you need to read the DI, your opponent should be holding away as any other DI method will result in RAR Bair being true.

Thank you and yes I meant the RAR FF Bair.

 

[iVoltage]

You can follow up with a da with a ff nair at some percents. I'd use it if they throw out something , but if they don't just d-cape away. Also, you have multiple jumps, so maybe you can bait something out and then punish them.

Usually drop in right as they sheild drop, it may be able to lead to dash attack but I haven't tested.

 

[OnixLin]

What are Meta Knights reliable kill moves besides F-Smash and down b

 

[Clockzarb]

What are Meta Knights reliable kill moves besides F-Smash and down b

UpB is MK's best kill move, especially because MK has a lot of ways to combo it (out of Uair, Down and Forward throw or DA if they DI wrong) or by punishing an enemy airdodge. Grounded UpB has more knockback I believe which makes it a good option to kill as well.
Bair is good a kill move, especially off stage or out of a ledge trump
Usmash can kill too.
Nair can at higher % and/or close to the blast zone, offstage especially.

And that's mainly it I think, with Fsmash and DownB.

 

[Jamurai]

Usmash is underrated. Mad powerful when fresh. Great anti-air as well. I use it in a similar regard to DCape, in that I use it as a mix-up at kill % so they don't expect it and die.

D/U/Fthrow, DA, Utilt, Ftilt 1, Dtilt and Uair can all set up Shuttle Loop at kill %s in different situations. Raw B/Uthrow and Tornado kill at really high %s too (160+).

 

[Drippy]

Should I not care about staling UThrow and just use it at high %s when I can't get follow ups out of grabs anymore for the damage? I also mean grabbing enemy on the ledge and not facing in a direction to bthrow them.

 

[eclipsis17]

Back throw does the same amount of damage as up throw so if it's just damage you want, back throw will do the job just as easily.
If it's stage position you want, and you're facing the ledge, then down throw does the job better. Up throw sends too high to gain any positional advantage from and if they don't DI down throw off stage you can often connect Shuttle Loop.
So either you gain an edgeguarding position or you kill them (depends how close to the ledge you are). Up throw provides neither of those things.
I don't see any reason to stale your best kill throw and your emergency kill option.
I dunno what others think though

 

[Jamurai]

I think using Uthrow at the ledge is fine, once Dthrow > Fair stops working (which is the only thing to do if you grab while facing the ledge, if you want them offstage). Our dmg per hit is low so every % counts. All sorts of moves start killing at 170+ which is when Uthrow will become threatening, such as Bair and Nair midstage, Dsmash, and Tornado, so it's not as if we're out of options at those %s.

If you Uthrow at the ledge I find a lot of the time they try to jump back over you which MK can easily punish if prepared.

 

[Drippy]

Back throw does the same amount of damage as up throw so if it's just damage you want, back throw will do the job just as easily.
If it's stage position you want, and you're facing the ledge, then down throw does the job better. Up throw sends too high to gain any positional advantage from and if they don't DI down throw off stage you can often connect Shuttle Loop.
So either you gain an edgeguarding position or you kill them (depends how close to the ledge you are). Up throw provides neither of those things.
I don't see any reason to stale your best kill throw and your emergency kill option.
I dunno what others think though

• I've read U-Throw / B-Throw on the ledge is fairly common cause they're the most damaging throws so that's why I asked if it's worth, thanks for the reply.

I think using Uthrow at the ledge is fine, once Dthrow > Fair stops working (which is the only thing to do if you grab while facing the ledge, if you want them offstage). Our dmg per hit is low so every % counts. All sorts of moves start killing at 170+ which is when Uthrow will become threatening, such as Bair and Nair midstage, Dsmash, and Tornado, so it's not as if we're out of options at those %s.

If you Uthrow at the ledge I find a lot of the time they try to jump back over you which MK can easily punish if prepared.

• Thanks for the response. I'll just stop caring about staling Up Throw too much than and since Up Throw kills at around 170% anyways without platforms, I have a plethora of options to kill at those %s without Up Throw, I think even F-Tilt kills on the ledge little earlier than that so staling it shouldn't be my biggest worry. Interesting to see Up Throw that way too, seems like a pretty good conditioning on the ledge to see how enemy reacts to being U-Thrown, starting to see more opportunities for catching people's jumps with Up B.

EDIT:
Another question I want to ask is DA / Throw -> Up B worth it at non kill percents. So basically at the percents (70%ish area) where it won't kill yet but Up B is my only possible follow up. Is it smart to stale my Up B just for the damage since MK doesn't have many options to get damage anyways or should I keep it fresh for it to kill earlier?

I'm starting to notice watching a few of Tyrant's / Leo's matches (correct me if I'm wrong) that they instead dash under the enemy and pressure the enemy while they're in the air with Up Airs because it could lead into sweet spot Up B.

 

[Jamurai]

EDIT:
Another question I want to ask is DA / Throw -> Up B worth it at non kill percents. So basically at the percents (70%ish area) where it won't kill yet but Up B is my only possible follow up. Is it smart to stale my Up B just for the damage since MK doesn't have many options to get damage anyways or should I keep it fresh for it to kill earlier?

I'm starting to notice watching a few of Tyrant's / Leo's matches (correct me if I'm wrong) that they instead dash under the enemy and pressure the enemy while they're in the air with Up Airs because it could lead into sweet spot Up B.

Good question, this is not really totally agreed upon. Although the general trend is to try and keep Up-B fresh, there is a school of thought (me included) which states why say no to guaranteed 12% damage? Especially in matchups like Sheik wherein the few times you win the neutral game against her you gotta tack on as much damage as possible while in advantage state to stay in the game. MK isn't exactly lacking in kill setups and moves either, although granted Up-B is his best option.

As long as you don't spam DA/throw > Up-B as your only damage racking tool, and you spot them not DIing correctly (so the Up-B is guaranteed), in my mind adding 12% damage is worth it over any small increase in % which it takes for Up-B to kill when not fresh.

 

[iVoltage]

• I've read U-Throw / B-Throw on the ledge is fairly common cause they're the most damaging throws so that's why I asked if it's worth, thanks for the reply.

• Thanks for the response. I'll just stop caring about staling Up Throw too much than and since Up Throw kills at around 170% anyways without platforms, I have a plethora of options to kill at those %s without Up Throw, I think even F-Tilt kills on the ledge little earlier than that so staling it shouldn't be my biggest worry. Interesting to see Up Throw that way too, seems like a pretty good conditioning on the ledge to see how enemy reacts to being U-Thrown, starting to see more opportunities for catching people's jumps with Up B.

EDIT:
Another question I want to ask is DA / Throw -> Up B worth it at non kill percents. So basically at the percents (70%ish area) where it won't kill yet but Up B is my only possible follow up. Is it smart to stale my Up B just for the damage since MK doesn't have many options to get damage anyways or should I keep it fresh for it to kill earlier?

I'm starting to notice watching a few of Tyrant's / Leo's matches (correct me if I'm wrong) that they instead dash under the enemy and pressure the enemy while they're in the air with Up Airs because it could lead into sweet spot Up B.

To add onto what jamurai said, if you say use it early a few times, by the time they were high enough % it's probably going to be fresh enough. So don't worry about it too much.

 

[Drippy]

Good question, this is not really totally agreed upon. Although the general trend is to try and keep Up-B fresh, there is a school of thought (me included) which states why say no to guaranteed 12% damage? Especially in matchups like Sheik wherein the few times you win the neutral game against her you gotta tack on as much damage as possible while in advantage state to stay in the game. MK isn't exactly lacking in kill setups and moves either, although granted Up-B is his best option.

As long as you don't spam DA/throw > Up-B as your only damage racking tool, and you spot them not DIing correctly (so the Up-B is guaranteed), in my mind adding 12% damage is worth it over any small increase in % which it takes for Up-B to kill when not fresh.

Thank you again for the informative reply! The current way I play is pretty much as you said, just rack up the damage and at high %s going for the F-Tilt -> Up B or D-Tilt -> Up B / D-Cape or even just ledge trump Bairs or off-stage gimps versus most characters where Nair / Bair begin to kill. Up Smash is a move I've been working on implementing more from watching top MKs just cause of how great of an anti-air it is and how early it kills when fresh, and F-Smash is just a great KO move lol.

To add onto what jamurai said, if you say use it early a few times, by the time they were high enough % it's probably going to be fresh enough. So don't worry about it too much.

Possibly true

 

[Twisted_Jokerr]

Can someone link me to a R.O.B. matchup thread?

 

[Gearitz]

Does MK cover bad match ups for falco and vice-versa?

 

[Jamurai]

Does MK cover bad match ups for falco and vice-versa?

No secondary covers MK's bad matchups because no one beats Sheik. Who does Falco lose to hardest though? MK thrashes Rosa at least, which I know is a bad matchup for Falco.

 

[Xandercosm]

Can I have an invitation to the MK Discord? I couldn't find a thread for it on here.

 

[Needsmorespin]

Hi
I just started playing Meta Knight and was wondering if there was a Skype or Discord group I could join

 

[Meatbag]

Anyone else think that rar bair is good if you're looking for a kill. Saw Ito do that once against Zinoto

 

[(Buddha)]

////////////////////////////////////

 

[Meatbag]

http://supersmashbros.wikia.com/wiki/Reverse_Aerial_Rush
He used this on stage when zinoto was sheilding, the first two hits of bair were blocked but zinoto failed to block the third hit, killing him.

 

[Insightful]

Can't find the metaknight discord or skype. Does one exist?

 

[iVoltage]

What is "rar bair"? If you mean normal back air, then yes. MK's bair is one of his kill moves. Try not to use it on stage though. Often times it will send the downwards and make them hit the floor when you are too close to the ground. Off ledges and up above the stage is the best way to go. Unless you are looking for a jab lock combo. Also, ledge trump back air is good for kills.

Reverse aerial rush

 

[(Buddha)]

[QUOT////////////////////////////////////

 

[Jamurai]

Anyone else think that rar bair is good if you're looking for a kill. Saw Ito do that once against Zinoto

It's a decent mixup I guess, if they're expecting something else (something safer on block...) they may fail to block the last hit which is the important one.

In a similar vein, I saw Leo do Dthrow at kill %, the opponent DIed down and away and Leo chased after them, they airdodged (I assume to avoid Up-B) and he punished it with a full hop RAR Bair for the kill.

 

[RosalinA]

It's a decent mixup I guess, if they're expecting something else (something safer on block...) they may fail to block the last hit which is the important one.

In a similar vein, I saw Leo do Dthrow at kill %, the opponent DIed down and away and Leo chased after them, they airdodged (I assume to avoid Up-B) and he punished it with a full hop RAR Bair for the kill.

It's also great for ledge trumping. A fresh one will definitly kill a shiek at around 80-90%.

 

[alexthepony]

Sometime I see people randomly jump for no reason. just do empty sh hops when pressuring. I don't really understand this or air Air footies in general. can someone please try to teach me this fundamental.

 

[SoulShadowolf]

Hello! I'm very new to this site and I just started to learn Meta Knight and getting into competitive Smash in general, so I was wondering what would be the basics one should learn first in playing Meta Knight? I play on the 3DS if that matters.